


Five Times Thor Caught Loki and the One Time He Missed

by TheOtherOdinson



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Attempted Suicide, Fluff, Gen, Ragnarok speculation, it ends in sadness, the Odin bros in all their dramatic glory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-09 23:00:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8916436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOtherOdinson/pseuds/TheOtherOdinson
Summary: Just what it says in the title.





	

_Five -_

The Hulk's angry roar followed closely by Loki's unhappy squawk was all the warning to be had before Hulk had Loki held fast in his grip. Loki's attempt at casting a spell that would calm Banner's beast well enough for Banner to re-emerge and the three of them make their escape from this strange world had failed. Loki squirmed and kicked, fighting to free himself. Loki's struggle only made the Hulk angrier and roared again, his grip on Loki tightening.

Thor could see the resignation cross his newly returned brother's face. Loki was waiting for the pain to come. Thor didn't think - he just threw Mjolnir as hard as he could. Mjolnir struck the Hulk solidly in the side of the head before returning to Thor's hand. The Hulk stumbled, but recovered quickly. Scanning the area for the source of his latest hurt, he caught sight of Thor easily. Thor made no attempt to hide, standing out in the open. Before Thor could react, the Hulk hurled back at him the only thing he had at hand - Loki.

Thor dropped Mjolnir and had his arms held out moments before Loki slammed into him. He had his arms wrapped around his brother's form before the pair of them hit the ground. They rolled across the ground with dizzying speed before Thor managed to dig his boots heels into the dirt well enough to slow them down. As soon as they stopped moving, Loki was out of his arms and on his feet, cursing.

"Foul beast! We waste time trying to reason with this creature. He is not Banner, Thor. We should leave him here to his fate."

Thor didn't respond to Loki's ravings. He worried what he might say. Thor had many things he wished to say to his brother, but they would have to keep until the danger had passed. They needed to get out of here and find their way home. Thor found his feet and called Mjolnir to him. The Hulk still stood in the same place, glaring, as if daring them to try again.

Thor strode forward.

***  *  ***

_Four -_

"This may be a very good time for us to retreat."

Thor laughed. "Why would we do that, Brother? We are winning! Victory will be ours this day."

Loki shot him a venomous glare. Thor didn't seem to notice. "Even so, few of us will still be alive to enjoy it if we stay here much longer."

"Loki's right, Thor," Fandral chimed in from a few feet away, doing his level best to run through every enemy foolish enough to get within stabbing range. "We should fall back and regroup."

Thor threw Mjolnir with a delighted roar, the hammer knocking down countless warriors in its path and almost hitting Sif who ducked out of range at the last moment. "Leave then, I will defeat these pathetic excuses for warriors by myself."

Loki bit back a growl of frustration, over their present state of rapidly encroaching enemy and his brother's pigheaded foolishness. Fandral gave him a sympathetic look. Loki glared back at him until Fandral looked away, turning his concentration back to staying alive.

Loki threw one dagger after another until his line of sight was clear of enemies before calling on his magic and began tracing runes in the air. He ran through the working quickly, calling smoke to rise from the ground all around them. He pushed the smoke outward, cloaking them and choking the warriors rushing to surround them. A few moments more and they would have a clear path to retreat. Loki vowed he would shove the smoke down Thor's throat if he complained about having to abandon this losing battle.

He was almost finished, almost ready to grab Thor by his stupidly bright red cape and drag him along if need be, when he heard Volstagg cry out - "Loki! Behind you!"

Loki spun around to meet the threat moving up on him only to find himself rising off the ground in time with his conjured smoke. The sorceress who held him in her grip smirked at him even as he tried to counteract her magic. Nothing happened and Loki remained suspended in the air.

"Is this the best you have to offer? At least try to make it a challenge for me!" Thor shouted at the army surrounding him, not noticing Loki's predicament at his back.

The sorceress eyed Thor for a moment before returning her attention to Loki. "Well," she said, "who am I to deny the son of Odin?"

Loki understood what she intended even as she was making the motion with her hands. "Thor!" Loki cried a split second before he felt his body fly through the air.

Thor turned just in time to hold out one arm in an awkward attempt to catch him. Loki hit Thor with enough force to knock them both to the ground. As their friends rushed to defend them from the forces converging on them despite the smoke, Loki scrambled free of Thor's grasp and rushed to finish his casting.

"What happened? Who threw you?" Thor asked as Loki half herded, half shoved him through the smoke-free path.

"It hardly matters at the moment. Move, Thor!"

***  *  ***

_Three -_

Thor's arm around Loki's shoulders was heavy and warm as they staggered down the street. The night was long gone and morning was peeking out across Asgard's sky as the pair made their unsteady way home.

"This has been a good night, Brother," Thor slurred. "Nay, a good week, a year even."

"You speak nonsense as usual, but you are right about one thing. It has been a pleasant night."

Loki wasn't lying. The week has been full of official celebrations and ceremonies to mark Loki's coming-of-age. The final feast had been a small affair, family and close friends only, capped off with fireworks that covered the evening sky. Thor insisted he and Loki should continue celebrating and with the blessings of their parents, off they went. Tavern after tavern, Thor stood tall and loudly toasted  "To Loki! My little brother, now a man and a warrior of Asgard." They called an end to their evening when the last tavern was empty save for them and the owner who was propped up behind the bar and struggling to stay awake.

Tripping over his own feet, Loki remained upright only due to Thor's firm grip on his shoulder. Thor laughed. "No falling down, Brother. It would be an undignified ending to this glorious night." It was only his many long years of listening to Thor speak while drunk Loki was able to understand him. He tried to nod his agreement, but quickly stopped, worried his head might roll off without him.

"Yes," Loki agreed, speaking slow enough to enunciate his words. "Undignified."

Thor pulled on Loki's neck, bringing him closer. "You are a man now, my brother. We are warriors. Soon all the realms will tremble before the might of the Odinsons."

Loki made a noise of agreement without moving his head.

"In fact, when we return home we should go to Father and ask - "

Suddenly Loki was rolling and bouncing. He wondered if his head escaped after all. _Thump, thump, thump_ pounded in his ears. It took him a moment before he realized he was no longer rolling, though he was unsure about the bouncing. His stomach lurched as his head pounded through the dizziness. As his stomach settled, Loki noticed how much his body suddenly ached. Everywhere. And he definitely was no longer moving. And his head was certainly still attached.

And Thor's arms were wrapped tightly around him.

"Whaaa?" Loki said. He carefully moved his head from side to side. They were laying on the ground. They were in a garden, at the base of a fountain. There was a set of stairs nearby. This was the way home, Loki remembered. Though usually they walked upright down the stairs before cutting through one of Mother's gardens. Loki lay his head back down ever so slowly. "Ow."

"Oops," Thor said, still laying where he fell. His grip on Loki hadn't lessened.

"Oaf."

***  *  ***

_Two -_

"Thor! Loki! I said - pay attention! I will not warn you again."

Thor barely refrained from rolling his eyes at Tyr. Out of the corner of his gaze, he saw Loki not resisting the urge in the slightest. He guffawed with laughter, shooting a grin over his shoulder at Sif.

Her answering glare was impressive.

He didn't know why any maiden would want to learn warrior's fighting anyway. Who had ever heard of such a thing? It was a beautiful afternoon in Asgard and there were far greater ways to spend the day than listening to an old warrior drone on and on about fighting strategies that seemed of little use. Everyone knew you fought with the weapons you had at hand, and when those ran out, you simply hit your opponent until they fell down. Then you celebrated your victory.

Thor sighed loudly, wishing he could be elsewhere. He could feel Sif's glare burning a hole in his skull. He knew she liked him. All maidens liked him. She simply hid it better than others. He glanced over at Loki. His brother was ignoring Tyr while making green flames dance across his fingertips. Impressive, Thor supposed, if one liked that sort of thing. Thor would rather fight.

Thor shot another look behind him at Sif. He smiled at her and was about to say something terribly clever and charming when three things happened almost simultaneously - Loki gasped, Sif's eyes went very wide, and Thor was hit with his own brother.

Thor's brain recognized Loki a split-second before he slammed into him. Thor's arms wrapped around him instinctively as he fell hard to the ground on his back with Loki sprawled out on top of him. As they struggled to untangle their limbs from each other, a pair of armoured boots appeared next to them.

"As I was saying - awareness of one's surroundings and enemy can often be the greatest strength of any warrior," Tyr said. "A moment's distraction can be all that it takes to cost a warrior his life. Or the life of another."

***  *  ***

_One -_

"Thor, I want you meet someone very special. This is Loki. He is your brother."

His mother smiled down at him where Thor sat on a cushioned bench with his father's arm around him. Thor stared at the blanketed bundle in his mother's arms. When she started to bend down, Thor thrust his arms out immediately, worried the bundle might fall from her arms. But nothing fell, and his mother gently settled a wrapped, sleeping infant into Thor's outstretched arms. He half-listened as she explained how best to hold him. She sat next to him on the bench, both her and father holding a hand under his arms as if Thor might lose his hold.

As Thor stared down at the peacefully sleeping face of the baby - his brother, Mother had said - Thor knew he wouldn't lose his grip. He held the baby - Loki, his very own brother - more firmly. His parents talked over his head in quiet voices, their hands still hovering to ensure Loki didn't tumble to the ground. Thor ignored their conversation in favour of watching Loki sleep. All Thor could see of him was his face and one tiny fist he had freed from his blanket and rested against his chin while he slept.

Loki. His little brother. The brother of Thor. Thor and Loki. The Odinsons.

Thor smiled. He liked the sound of that.

Loki let out a little cry as he shifted in his blanket and blinked himself awake. Loki let out another small cry when he saw someone new holding him, shifting again. Loki's leg jerked within the blanket's folds, once then twice against Thor's chest. Thor wondered if his new brother was trying to kick him. He kept a careful, steady hold on him throughout.

"It's all right, Loki," Thor said. "I'm your brother. I won't let you fall no matter what. Not ever. I promise."

***  *  ***

_And the one time Thor thought he caught Loki but realized too late Loki was still falling -_

Fear made Thor desperate. And it was that fear and desperation that had him reaching out for Gungnir while willing Loki to do the same. He didn't know what was going on. He didn't understand what Loki thought he was doing or how this came about. All Thor knew was the Bifrost was gone and he and his brother were both falling.

 _Grab Gungnir, Loki_ , he thought. _Grab it so I can catch you._ He would have shouted it if he thought Loki could heard him over the cacophony of destruction around them. As if Loki could hear his thoughts, Thor saw his hand wrap around Gungnir moments after Thor's did. Before he could think of how to save them both, their freefall wrenched to a stop.

_Father._

It was over. Father would pull them up. Thor would hang onto Gungnir and Loki until they were all safely on ground again. Only another minute. With Loki hanging off the other end over the void of space, Thor would hang on for as long as need be. Ragnarok would come before he let his brother fall.

Loki was saying something, yelling past Thor. Thor didn't know what had happened between his father and brother in his absence, but surely whatever it was, it could wait until they were home. Thor waited for the reassuring pull that would signal their father hauling them from danger.

Loki's face went blank.

The horror of foresight surged through Thor's mind. "Loki, no!"

Thor's grip on Gungnir tightened even as Loki's loosened. Thor flung his hand out, grasping, desperate to bridge the distance between them and grab hold of his brother. Screams tore at Thor's throat as his outstretched hand remained empty.

Thor's long-ago promise lay broken. Swallowed whole before him by a dark abyss.

Loki fell. Thor didn't catch him.

 

_The end._

 

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, how to describe the backstory to this one? First there was a cool gifset featuring Loki stabbing Thor (stay with me), then someone added some interesting comments about how it looks like Thor is instinctively reaching out to catch Loki, among other things, which I thought 'hey sounds like a story!' And then I forgot all about it, as one does. Until I was reminded. Yesterday. Since I was busy ignoring the things I should have been doing at the time, of course I grabbed onto this. Maybe it's not the thing I was supposed to be working on, but all productivity is good, right? You can check out the gifset, subsequent comment tree, and trace the exact path of my distraction [here.](http://theotherodinson.tumblr.com/post/154650242454/pro-antagonist-theotherodinson-thorkizilla)


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